Get Out

Music worth leaving the house to hear this week

Wednesday, October 19John Davis
Local 506
Playing the band connection game can be fun. John Davis, founder of power pop group Superdrag, is an old Knoxville, Tenn., pal of like-minded souls Adam Price (Mayflies USA) and Andy Herod (Comas), who moved to Chapel Hill back when. They all share a crucible of big chords and memorable lyrical vignettes; Davis' tunes resonate long after he's left town. New Town Drunks open. $8/9:30 p.m. --CT

Can Joann, The Sibling Project, The Plus Ones
Kings
Can Joann manages some of the more catchy melodies in these parts, with four dudes and the normal tools of the guitar-pop trade: Simple, stabbing bounce with mile-wide hooks. Openers The Sibling Project may step out of tune, but the brother-and-sister, shoulder-shakable, Apple-beat pop of Lindsey and Danny Ranck is cute enough to garner comparisons to Mates of States and clever enough to suggest the obligatory Postal Service reference. So there. 9 p.m. --GC

Woodbox Gang, Revision
The Pour House
Jason Ringenberg is a fan of the Woodbox Gang (who hail from Ringenberg's childhood stomping grounds of southern Illinois), and that should be all the endorsement you need. The band cites artists ranging from Johnny Cash to the Ramones as influences on their self-described "Trashcan Americana," so they no doubt do plenty of scorching of their own. Ithaca, N.Y.-based groove quartet Revision shares the bill. $5/10 p.m. --RC

Thursday, October 20Dave Fera, Port Huron Statement, Mean Reds Orchestra
Kings
Important stuff: Dave Fera is one of those oft-spoken-of, almost-famous musicians who created a local buzz (Richmond) with a solid band (The Seymores), signed a promising deal (Pitch-A-Tent Records), made a record with a famous guy (Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven frontman David Lowery), and--for one reason or another--didn't make it. More important: Before a reunion two weeks ago, Fera had been separated from his new band, Big Blue Marble, after a show in Baton Rouge three days before Katrina's Bayou landfall. He's touring for money, food and a home. Help him out. Old pals Port Huron Statement headline, with Jerry Kee's new band, Mean Reds Orchestra, opening. --GC

Nikka Costa
Lincoln Theatre
Daughter of famed arranger Don Costa (Paul Anka, Tony Bennett), Nikka opened for Don Ho when she was 5 and released her first album when she was 8. She's been on the charts in Germany and Australia (both one-time homes), but only came to light here with her 2001 debut, Everybody Got Their Something. Her latest, Can'tneverdidnothin', is a funky soulful affair pitched between Lenny Kravitz and Prince. $13-15/9 p.m. --CP

Music Maker Party
Berkeley Cafe
You think you got thrown down with the blues? Life just not so grand? Baby done left ya? This all-star cast of Music Maker cats--Macavine Hayes, Captain Luke, Whistlin' Britches, Slewfoot & Cary B, Cool John Ferguson--won't make you feel any better, but they'll let you know you're not the first (nor will you be the last) sad sack with a belly full of bitter. The event follows a talk by the artists at Meredith College. Cover is $10. --GC

Friday, October 21Bury Your Dead
Brewery
Victory Records is to the recent metalcore tide what SST was to the '80s underground or SubPop to the early '90s, which is to say their touch has been pretty golden of late. Bury Your Dead's 2004 Victory debut, Cover Your Tracks, follows in the steps of Hatebreed, rediscovering the pass where thrash and hardcore parted ways in the mountains of brutal, paint-peeling aggression. $12/7:30 p.m. --CP

Tito Puente Jr.
Baldwin Auditorium
Tito Puente Jr. was born into musical royalty--his dad being the famous timbalero, bandleader and entertainer who was one of New York City's original Mambo Kings. (It's not for nothing that the elder Puente appears in the 1992 movie The Mambo Kings, playing himself in a recreation of the historic '50s Paladium Ballroom.) The 34-year-old Puente Jr. led a tropical big band tribute to his father on the Latin Grammys in 2000 (the year of his death), and his albums include dance remixes of his father's hits, such as "Oye Como Va." His latest is entitled In My Father's Shoes. $5/8 p.m. --SP

Saturday, October 22Nathan Asher CD Release Party, The Never, Starting Tuesday, Owen Fitzgerald
Local 506
Nathan Asher doesn't mind telling you what he thinks of your predilections and proclivities, habits and hankerings: "You Cannot Quit Smoking," one of the most gripping, narrative philippics released since Steve Earle's "John Walker's Blues" and the centerpiece of his Infantry's new second album, is as an acerbic commentary on the grim standards of society fit for his heroes--Smith, Dylan and Springsteen. Speaking of his heroes, The Infantry--six-piece and explosive--sounds like a legendary hammer, bearing down and browbeating with volume. Free/9 p.m. --GC

The Rosebuds, Hotel lights, The Greatest hits
Cat's Cradle
This marks the second release party for the excellent second full-length from The Rosebuds, Birds Make Good Neighbors. If you fell in love with the hit parade of three-minute hip jerkers that was their debut, Make Out, it will be easy to get lost in the pensive autumnal reverie of this album, as Ivan Howard--aging into perfect form as both a songwriter and vocalist--ponders the difficulties of the loving life. It works especially well as his paramour and wife, Kelly Crisp, sings along and even takes a song of her own, the Neko & Wanda-like "Leaves Do Fall." $8/9:30 p.m. --GC

Sunday, October 23The Kingsbury Manx
Fuse
It's not as dramatic as Artimus Pyle limping from the impact site, but far more have suffered ill-fate from van mishaps than plane. Our own Manx expended one of their nine lives as Bill Taylor gripped the steering wheel for dear life after one of their bald van tires blew out in Texas. To raise money for suddenly very necessary new tires, they're hosting a hootenanny of sorts. Manx members (and special guests) will perform solo and duet sets of new and old material and choice covers. There will be two sets, from 7-8:30 p.m. and 10:30-midnight. --CP

USAISAMONSTER, Facedowninshit, Air Conditioning, Kites
Reservoir
Hear ye, hear ye, for this all-shred, all-the-time gig provides the fragmented personalities among you to bond within the confines of static, feedback and wooly goodness. This show was recently moved from Nightlight to Reservoir. Please contact the club for more info: 933-3204. --CT

The Bravery, VHS or Beta
Cat's Cradle
Hey, as long as you're robbing Robert Smith blind, can we go back to the asymetrical haircuts and ripped Ts? The Bravery hail from Brooklyn, but like Louisville's VHS or Beta, they're serious Anglophiles currently residing in the new-wave '80s. The Bravery's guitar slashes like Franz, but the synth-driven rhythmic undercurrent would make Duran Duran proud. VHS or Beta's cutting a similar rug, though more polished and dancier, without The Bravery's echo of The Killers. $15/8 p.m. --CP

MxPx, Rufio, Sun, Saylor Park
Campbell University's Homecoming
Punk rock like a go-kart may be the product of youthful exuberance, but the same skills used to make it can be used to fashion something with a chassis and real horsepower. Begun in '93, MXPX based their ebullient pop-punk sound on the Descendents and Green Day. But we never end as callow as we start, and MXPX has matured of late. Rufio are a young power-pop/punk act with a similar trajectory if a few steps slower than MXPX, who, back on an indie, are flashing newfound muscle and purpose. Call 910-893-1554 for more info) $12/8 p.m. --CP

Tuesday, October 25The Spinns, Die Rotz, The Original
Wetlands
Rock 'n' roll is the axle grease for society's drive shaft. In the mental struggle with life's inequities and iniquities--the things we cannot change nor easily forget--the circuit breaker for my cognitive friction is the rejuvenating energy and spirit of rock. Like missionaries of "the moment," The Spinns deliver the garage rock word, redlined and heedless, like I'd like to live it, if I had the constitution of Keith Richards. Atlanta's Die Rotz opens. $6/10 p.m. --CP

Wednesday, October 26Rah Bras, Measles Mumps Rubella, VCR
Wetlands
Rah Bras bring an unpredictable bag of switches while on tour. The trio dodges and burns the corners of their music into insidious rhythm-centered libido grinders, capable of head-bobbing grooves and eye-squinting schlock with costumes--including old presidents masks and matching bikini tops--and million-yard stares. 10 p.m. --CT